Sometimes, I try to write. I usually fail.

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Thinking About the Future

While Strange Beastsis still torturing my beta readers, I really should be working on my next project. It’s one of those things that’s difficult to get going, but I know if I don’t start writing soon, I’m going to lose all of that useful knowledge gained from writing the last novel. Things like, writing is not defined as the pursuit of the longest, most convoluted sentence ever. Oh, and that two decent characters are much more useful than a whole slew of so-so characters. Oh, and try to keep it under 100,000 words. Things like that.

I’m thinking about doing something a little different this go around. As I write, I think I’ll post the results right here. I’m talking first draft, absolute garbage of the mind. The kind of stuff most writers would love to brush under the rug and never mention again. I think I want to share that stuff.

Now, in a way, this is the writer’s equivalent to stepping out into public naked — it will reveal all those nasty little blemishes I haven’t been able to fix. You see, first drafts are always, always crap…and not just because they’re usually full of misspelled words and grammatical snafus. First drafts are also packed full of extraneous characters, tangents that go nowhere, jokes that aren’t funny, and plot lines that make absolutely no sense until the writer returns to the beginning and fixes all of the junk he or she wrote before he figured out exactly where the story was going. First drafts are truly, truly awful.

So, why not share? In my opinion, seeing all the crap is the most inspiring part. As a human struggling to write something decent, it gives me limitless confidence when I read about other humans struggling to write something decent. For most of us, this involves a lot of hard work and very, very little divine inspiration or pure, raw talent. You can’t reach the heart of the jungle without chopping through a bunch of shit with a machete. I’d just like to share all of that hacked up shit with everyone. Won’t that be fun?

No, it won’t. That’s the point. But please, bare with me.

Get it? Bare…Because of all the talk about naked…Oh, whatever. Give me a break, this is a first draft.